None shall have power to intercede, save he who hath received permission at
the hands of the God of Mercy.

They say: "The God of Mercy hath gotten offspring." Now have ye done a
monstrous thing!

Almost might the very Heavens be rent thereat, and the Earth cleave asunder,
and the mountains fall down in fragments,

That they ascribe a son to the God of Mercy, when it beseemeth not the God of
Mercy to beget a son!

Verily there is none in the Heavens and in the Earth but shall approach the
God of Mercy as a servant. He hath taken note of them, and numbered them with
exact numbering:

And each of them shall come to Him, on the day of Resurrection, singly:

But love will the God of Mercy vouchsafe to those who believe and do the
things that be right.

Verily we have made this Koran easy and in thine own tongue, that thou mayest
announce glad tidings by it to the God-fearing, and that thou mayest warn the
contentious by it.

How many generations have we destroyed before them! Canst thou search out one
of them? or canst thou hear a whisper from them?


_______________________

1 Comp. the first 37 verses of this Sura with Sura iii. 35-57 with reference
to the different style adopted by Muhammad in the later Suras, probably for
the purpose of avoiding the imputation of his being merely a poet, a
sorcerer, or person possessed. Sura lii. 29, 30; xxi. 5; lxviii. 2, 51. This
Sura is one of the fullest and earliest Koranic Gospel Histories, and was
recited to the Nagash or King of Æthiopia, in the presence of the ambassadors
of the Koreisch. His. 220; Caussin, i. 392; Sprenger (Life of M.) p. 193.

2 See Sura lxviii. I, p. 32. Golius conjectured that these letters represent
coh ya'as, thus he counselled, and that they were added by some Jewish
scribe. Sprenger (Journ. of As. Soc. of Bengal, xx. 280) arranges them as
Ain, Sad, Kaf, Ha, Ya, and supposes them to be taken from the Arabic words
for Aisa (Jesus) of the Nazarenes, King of the Jews. But we can hardly
imagine that Muhammad would ascribe such a title to our Lord, and the word
which Dr. Sprenger uses for Jews is not the form peculiar to the Koran.

3 Lest they should desert the worship of the God of Israel.

4 Ar. Yahia. It may be true that the name in this form had never been given.
Otherwise, we have in this passage a misunderstanding of Luke i. 61, as well
as ignorance of the Jewish Scriptures. Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 23; 1 Chron. iii.
16; Ezra viii. 12; Jerem. xl. 8. Some commentators try to avoid the
difficulty by rendering samiyan, deserving of the name.

5 Or, with firm resolve. See Sura [xcvii.] iii. 36. The speaker is God.

6 To an eastern chamber in the temple to pray. Or it may mean, to some place
eastward from Jerusalem, or from the house of her parents.

7 Thus the Protev. Jac. c. 12 says that Mary, although at a later period,
[greek text] But Wahl, she laid aside her veil.

8 Gabriel.

9 See Sura [lxxxix.] vi. 9.

10 It is quite clear from this passage, and from verse 36, that Muhammad
believed Jesus to have been conceived by an act of the divine will. Comp.
Sura [xcvii.] iii. 52; see also note at Sura [xci.] ii. 81.

11 Or, the throes urged her to the trunk of, etc.

12 This was either the Infant which spoke as soon as born, or Gabriel. Comp.
Thilo Cod. Apoc. 136-139 on this passage. Beidhawi explains: from behind the
palm tree.

13 See Thilo Cod. Apoc. N. T. p. 138, and the Hist. Nat. Mar. c. 20, which
connects similar incidents with the flight into Egypt. Thus also Latona,
[greek text], Call. H. in Apoll. and [greek text], H. in Delum.

14 Or, settle, calm thine eye, refresh thine eye. The birth of a son is still
called korrat ol ain.

15 The anachronism is probably only apparent. See Sura iii. 1, n. Muhammad
may have supposed that this Aaron (or Harun) was the son of Imran and Anna.
Or, if Aaron the brother of Moses be meant Mary may be called his sister,
either because she was of the Levitical race, or by way of comparison.

16 See Sura [cxiv.] v. 109.

17 From the change in the rhyme, and from the more polemical tone of the
following five verses, it may be inferred that they were added at a somewhat
later period.

18 The title Nabi, prophet, is used of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as
depositaries of the worship of the one true God, but with a mission
restricted to their own families; whereas Houd, Saleh, Shoaib, etc., are
designated as (Resoul) apostles and envoys, charged with a more extended
mission to the tribes of Arabia. In Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, etc., are


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